News Tron coaster coming to the Magic Kingdom

[Disgruntled Walt]

I would love to see a family friendly DAK dark ride of non-Dinosaur extinct animals.

I would love to see a land devoted to mythical creatures like dragons and unicorns. They could design an awesome trackless ride to fit this theme. Plus there's all those plans from 20-some years ago. Just sayin...

 

[BrianLo]

Maybe I've just grown too used to Space Mountain in Disneyland and HKDL... but Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain is huge, I didn't think it was pretending to be. It just looks like one huge attraction sitting next to another now?

 

[SilentWindODoom]

I've heard of glass-half-full, but this? Well done!

Sorry for the sarcasm. I understand your point about an abstract shape having no point of reference for scale, but it's the flat-out size, not the specific scale ratio (if that makes sense). Now if they could theme it to mountains...

Well, if it's not about scale, then it's not about forced perspective.

But, actually... I was shocked to see this. I decided to look at how the buildings would look from across Seven Seas Lagoon. Using this image as a reference for the size of the show building compared to Space mountain and using this image as a reference for the size of the show building compared to the canopy, it's actually extremely surprising how short the canopy really is. It just looks huge because there's not much around it and most of the surrounding area is so close that the show building is hidden behind it from most angles. And I was doubly shocked when I realized just how friggin' huge the trees around the park are. Perhaps Space Mountain isn't as bit as I imagined it. Looking at that, seeing the related heights, it appears that this is how it will appear:

Side Note: While looking at the two pieces of concept art we have to try to figure stuff out, I found something. The original art has a building between Tron and the Peoplemover Track.

Anyone know what this is or was going to be? It's not a part of Tron in Shanghai. There's a theatre there in its place. There's retail right nextdoor in the old arcade which is still visible in the art. The bathrooms are right around the corner. It doesn't appear there was any need for a backstage area that was removed by the new construction. And expecially interesting to me is that there's a new set of stairs shown on the right, which appears to be a replacement for the emergency exit stairs for the Peoplemover that currently exist where this new building is. So there was a lot of thought put into the addition of this building in this piece of art.

It's not in the new one, but the new one is really weird in a lot of ways and I'm sure at this point the plan for the area doesn't look like either of these pieces. I just wonder what the heck this portion of the original plan was.

 

[marni1971]

Perhaps Space Mountain isn't as bit as I imagined it.

It isn’t. That’s why it stood in isolation for 45 years. The new development will spoil the forced perspective and make the actual size more obvious.

The gravity building roof is only 145 ft above ground level.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It isn’t. That’s why it stood in isolation for 45 years. The new development will spoil the forced perspective and make the actual size more obvious.

The gravity building roof is only 145 ft above ground level.

Not even, the box does not break 100' above grade.

 

[marni1971]

Not even, the box does not break 100' above grade.

Not according to the original elevation blueprints.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Not according to the original elevation blueprints.

28,600 mm

 

[marni1971]

28,600 mm

I’ll stick to the materials I’m lucky to have access to.

 

[marni1971]

Damn my eyesight. 104 ft.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Nah, everything will be fine, the Tron building won’t ruin... oh wait, what’s that?

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Nah, everything will be fine, the Tron building won’t ruin... oh wait, what’s that?

View attachment 469757

Water?

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Nah, everything will be fine, the Tron building won’t ruin... oh wait, what’s that?

View attachment 469757

nah. They'll just paint that side "see you later cyan" and it'll disappear amongst the sky.

 

[SilentWindODoom]

Man. It is a lot harder than I expected to find information on the height of Space Mountain. The number I'm getting is 183. Is that true? And it's described as "top of cone", but it's from unofficial sources, so I don't know if that's really the cone, or to the top of the spire. Anyone know for sure the height?

Nah, everything will be fine, the Tron building won’t ruin... oh wait, what’s that?

View attachment 469757

Wow. You can really see that show building from a random field before the rest of the bus stops were built, blocking the view.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Man. It is a lot harder than I expected to find information on the height of Space Mountain. The number I'm getting is 183. Is that true? And it's described as "top of cone", but it's from unofficial sources, so I don't know if that's really the cone, or to the top of the spire. Anyone know for sure the height?



Wow. You can really see that show building from a random field before the rest of the bus stops were built, blocking the view.

Just one view from Seven Seas Lagoon. We never arrived at MK by bus, but the view of the Tron building from the Contemporary is even more pronounced. I'd imagine the view from the Express Loop would be similar.

I'd love to know the true height of Space Mountain.

 

[SilentWindODoom]

Damn my eyesight. 104 ft.

Eh, don't worry about it. I mispelled "big", didn't see this message until just now, and spent fifteen minutes checking the elevation marked on the railroad station (108') and writing out a response that the two of you were both correct before doing one last check and realizing you said "ground level" and not "sea level".

Just one view from Seven Seas Lagoon. We never arrived at MK by bus, but the view of the Tron building from the Contemporary is even more pronounced. I'd imagine the view from the Express Loop would be similar.

I'd love to know the true height of Space Mountain.

Yeah. In my previous two posts I'd mentioned the visibility off-stage, but it will be mostly from the right side. Most people coming into the park will see it for that stretch. Anything further to the left it will be a lot less stark. I included the building in my mockup and made it bright red because any color similar to the color the building is was pretty hard to see.

For 80-90% of the Seven Seas Lagoon, the building isn't going to be a huge eyesore. It's going to be mostly hidden by the mountain itself or the canopy. It's definitely very visible from the Contemporary, most of the rooms of which also have great views of the kayfabe-killing dingy roofs of the Magic Kingdom. As a matter of fact, looking at the pictures there's a huge set of trees blocking everything but the left half of Space Mountain from Bay Lake Tower.

And if Space Mountain really is 183', by the way, then I think the forced perspective thing is laid to rest. To me, it seems like a pretty strong case of the design inadvertently doing the opposite, because I always thought that thing was half the size of the Tower of Terror, not 16' less.

 

[corran horn]

Nah, everything will be fine, the Tron building won’t ruin... oh wait, what’s that?

View attachment 469757

Starting to think those people standing in the retention pond outside the buses (and outside the park btw) might be able to see part of the gravity building in May 2020.

 

[Surferboy567]

Quick Question: Why is every coaster show building called a gravity building? Is it because the coasters use the forces of gravity to run?

 

[corran horn]

Quick Question: Why is every coaster show building called a gravity building? Is it because the coasters use the forces of gravity to run?

Gravity and inertia. I suppose 'ride building' is the same, but not always indicative of the scale of these in particular.

 

[Purduevian]

Quick Question: Why is every coaster show building called a gravity building? Is it because the coasters use the forces of gravity to run?

Gravity building is typically in reference to a building on a rollercoaster where the only force propelling the coaster is gravity. For example RnRC has a line, load , and unload building, a launch tunnel, and a gravity building. I'm not sure why someone would refer to space mountain as a gravity building as it has a lift hill (or 2) inside of it. I don't meet my definition, but maybe I am missing something.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Gravity building is typically in reference to a building on a rollercoaster where the only force propelling the coaster is gravity. For example RnRC has a line, load , and unload building, a launch tunnel, and a gravity building. I'm not sure why someone would refer to space mountain as a gravity building as it has a lift hill (or 2) inside of it. I don't meet my definition, but maybe I am missing something.

View attachment 469933

Going by a Google search, it seems the phrase "gravity building" was coined for RnRC.

And as you point out, RnRC has a launch into a separate building in which any forward motion is a result of gravity (and momentum). Thus, a "gravity building".

The Guardians coaster (if it ever is completed) has a similar set-up, and so its giant blue box is also called a gravity building.

I would consider it a misnomer to call the building in which a lift or launcher is including with the rest of the coaster a "gravity building." But in light of most people's unawareness of the etymology of "gravity building," it's understandable they would abstract it to mean any building which encloses a coaster.